The dog whistles against Muslims have been loud as a megaphone for quite some time. Muslim hate-speech has increased over the years since September 11, 2001 and the latest resurgence since the election of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, is just as disgusting as the Islamophobia of old. I personally had hoped we would have gotten better than this by now.
I remember those early days as a new convert shocked that even as a US Marine, that wasn’t enough “proof” of my “loyalties.” I started a blog in 2005, podcasted, and wrote extensively about my concerns that we as Americans were misguided in this distrust of fellow Americans who happened to be Muslim. At a certain point, even after surviving the innuendo about President Barack Obama, I burned out. I realized hate is taught, hate is practiced, and some delight and capitalize off it. I realized that no amount of talking would change the hearts and minds of those who just hated. In short, I gave up. Then Donald Trump started running on a Muslim ban and I knew then, that the whistles were gone and now the megaphones were coming out. I remember saying that Donald Trump was dangerous. Sadly I was right. Even then, I had hoped we would have gotten better than this this by now.
As a military veteran who’s son is currently serving in the US Military, it’s a scary time when you know your Commander in Chief is a bigot and his preferred “news” source shares similar sentiment. When Representatives Omar and Talib like Congressmen Ellison and Carson before them were elected, I had hoped that we would have gotten better than this by now.
However, in recent weeks we have been bombarded with a near daily onslaught of lies being spread about Congresswoman Omar and I like many Muslim American KNOW that most of it is because she’s a Muslim woman. Her mere presence in Congress is already an affront to the bigots, but when she also dared speak against Israeli Lobbyists and their effect on foreign policy, I knew things would get worse.
Now we have Jeanine Pirro’s comments and while they are nothing new, are a stark reminder that to many, being Muslim in America is a hostile state of being, and “incompatible” with the Constitution of the United States of America.
My DD214 says otherwise.
What I would challenge Jeanine and those who think like her to do, is go to one of the many US Military Installations like the one I was stationed Marine Corps Base Quantico, or even The Pentagon, on a Friday at Jummah, and look those service members, Government employees, and others who serve this nation daily, and tell them that their very existence, their service, and their oaths to protect and defend The Constitution of The United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic, is “incompatible.”
This rhetoric is dangerous, disgusting, and un-American. While I give kudos to Fox for saying something this one time, we as Americans who know better need to be more vigilant. Throwing our men and women in uniform and other Americans under the bus because we pray differently is affront to what America is supposed to be about.
Jeanine, please let us know when you plan to visit Jummah on a Marine, Army, Navy, AirForce, or Coast Guard installation to tell the Muslim service members their service is incompatible.
Please bring cameras. I’ll bring popcorn.
Semper Fidelis
An American Muslim 
The Muslim faith has brought on much of the condemnation you speak of. It’s true, Muslims are not getting fair treatment however, most of them as I see out sit idly by. You don’t see them condemning the acts of the radicals.
Our constitution guarantees freedom of religion. If someone wants their religious beliefs to be respected, they must also respect other peoples choices.
People fear the unknown. I know little of the Muslim faith but what little I hear , doesn’t appear that the Muslims want to assimilate to our society. It appears to me that they want to change our culture or live by their laws separately from the rest of our society.
A lot of the problems in relationships are created because of lack of knowledge. This has been an ongoing problem in our country for a long time. If you want things to change, promote the good the people of your faith do and condemn and try to end the bad.
I too have a DD214. There was no question on my application as to who I was defending. We are all to be treated equally.
We must get to a point where we show respect to each other regardless of skin color, sexual preference or religous beliefs. If you choose to live in this great country, you must believe in this philosophy. Otherwise, we will perish.
As you’re a fellow vet, I’m going to give you the courtesy of a proper reply. First and foremost, a religion, idea, thought, etc. can of itself do nothing. People do that. So those who condemn, condemn for whatever reasons they have come up with themselves. This myth about “not seeing” Muslims condemn something is absurd and is one of the oldest plays in the book. I’ve heard it many times over the past decade or so. Have you ever looked into it? I mean have you actually gone to sites like ISNA, CAIR, others that represent large groups of Muslims? Have you visited websites of Al Azhar in Egypt or Saudi Arabia? What about in Europe? What constitutes “seeing” and what is your burden of proof? Do 1.5 billion or so Muslims need to come to your home with a megaphone? Be that as it may, just the idea that I random Muslim or a group or body of random Muslims need to condemn, make a statement, etc. about what some other random group of Muslims do in of itself is ridiculous. Imagine if that standard was universal for all faith, ethnic, etc. groups? Should every religious group or those who belong to that faith be obligated to speak out and condemn other members every time someone on Earth does something they don’t agree with? This is where prejudice comes in. The mere suggestion that over a billion people should be accountable for the actions of each other whether they know them or not, sets up a no win situation that will always keep Muslims in a defensive position trying to justify their existence. Screw that! We should start doing that when every Christian organization, Jewish organization, etc. starts doing it. Personally, until I hear every White Christian denounce what the Transatlantic slave trade and what was done with and to my ancestors they will forever remain suspect to me? See how crazy that sounds? Just change the word Muslim to something else and then you see how arrogant it is to require something of individuals who had nothing to do with whatever keeps the prejudice going. This is all about fear of the unknown and in this instance Jeanine like so many who follow her and those who came before her, delight in the ignorance, spread the ignorance, and profit off the ignorance. Otherwise, people would go and research for themselves, maybe visit a local Mosque, ask their Doctor, or something, but instead, they’d rather listen to non-stop scary rants that confirm their biases and prejudices. Then there’s that word “assimilate” what the hell does that mean? Are we the Borg now? No one, absolutely no one, has a monopoly on what being an American is. That view is as diverse as the American people and it’s nothing but pure supremacy that one believe that theirs in the single, acceptable definition of what it means to be an American. Again people’s prejudices and biases are personal. Furthermore, just listen to the shear arrogance of that statement which basically says that in order to be treated like an equal, fairly, and justly, one must conform to my personal standards of how a person should be. But let’s be honest, the only people who talk like this are White Americans. They’ve said it about every minority group since the birth of this nation. It’s actually really racist even if it wasn’t intended as such. The same can be said about “culture” “way of life” and other cutesy ways of saying that unless you conform to what I think as a White person how things should be, I’m never going to accept you or value you as an equal. You’ll forever be an object of suspicion. It’s called othering and very common in these discussions. For instance, I’m a Black guy from inner city New Jersey, I guarantee my views about Americana are different than someone from Kansas. Who’s view is correct? Plus people keep forgetting, ignoring, or just choosing to be ignorant, that the majority of Muslims in America are African American as in those who are descendants of slaves. Now what’s more American than that?